ft 


9F —  ==3f^fv3 


JOUVENIR  OF 


THE  eOMSTOGK. 


Embracing  the   Principal   Views  of  Virginia   City,   Gold    Hill, 

Silver  City   and   Sntro. 


Photographed  ami  Copyrighted,  i8go,  by  Jas.  H.  Crockwell,  Virginia  City,  Nevada. 


TheAlbertypoCo.,  N.  Y. 


(cZZ 


.3 


In  presenting  this  Souvenir  Album  0/  the  Comstock — the  compiling  of  which  has  been  no  little 
task — /  am  indebted  to  the  well-knowti  Dan.  Dc  Quille  of  Virginia  City  for  the  following 
historical  sketch.  The  views  are  made  by  sun-light,  electric  light  and  flash  light,  all  of  my  own 
work,  and  I  trust  that  the  parties  interested  in  the  various  views  presented  will  overlook  any  part 
that  does  not  f  idly  conform  to  what  they  might  have  preferred  in  the  Album. 

Very  respectfully, 

J.  H.  CROCKWELL, 

J'I/0  TOGRA  PHER, 
VIRGINIA  CITY,  NEVADA. 


^>~7G  i  a 


Cr 


c 


ft5' 


1) 

V/IRG 


THE  8omsto6k  Silver  //Unes. 


IRGINIA  City,  the  pioneer  silver  mining  town  of  Nevada  and  the  United  States,  is  perched  on  the 
Eastern  face  of  Mount  Davidson,  the  culminating  peak  of  the  range  of  mountains  in  which  lies  the 
famous  Comstock  silver  lode.  The  altitude  of  the  city  above  the  level  of  the  sea  is  about  6,000  feet. 
•j  It  was  founded  in  1859,  when  the  silver  mines  were  discovered.  Beginning  as  a  town  of  tents  and 
"     shanties,  it  soon  became  a  city  of  substantial  structures,  many  of  which  were  of  brick  and  iron. 

Gold  was  first  discovered  in  Nevada  in  the  spring  of  1850.  It  was  found  in  what  is  now  known  as 
Gold  Canyon  by  a  company  of  Mormon  emigrants  on  their  way  to  California.  From  $5  to  $8  a  day  could 
be  made  by  mining  the  gravel  of  the  canyon,  but  this  seemed  small  wages  to  men  who  expected  to  gather 
gold  by  the  pound  in  California,  therefore  all  but  one  or  two  families  went  on  across  the  mountains. 

Following  up  this  gold  in  after  years  lead  to  the  discovery,  in  1859,  of  the  rich  deposit  of  gold  where 
now  stands  the  town  of  Gold  Hill.  This  gold  in  a  vein  that  afterwards  became  famous  as  the  Comstock 
silver  lode,  but  at  Gold  Hill  it  was  gold-bearing  on  the  surface. 

At  and  about  Silver  City,  below  Gold  Hill,  are  many  mines  of  gold-bearing  quartz  (both  above  and 
below  the  Devil's  Gate)  which  contributed  their  share  to  the  gold  dust  found  in  Gold  Canyon. 

In  1857  gold  in  paying  quantities  was  found  in  Six-mile  Canyon,  above  the  Sugar  Loaf  Mountain, 
and  following  up  the  discovery  led  to  the  striking  of  silver  at  a  point  just  above  the  head  of  the  Canyon, 
where  Virginia  City  now  stands.  The  great  discovery  was  made  in  1859  by  Peter  O'Riley  and  Patrick 
McLaughlin.  While  engaged  with  rockers  in  washing  for  gold  they  dug  down  into  the  decomposed  top 
of  the  silver  lode,  afterward  world-famous. 

Virginia  City  lies  along  the  Comstock  lode  (which  runs  north  and  south)  for  a  distance  of  over  a 
mile,  and  is  united  on  the  south  with  the  town  of  Gold  Hill,  which  is  also  situated  on  the  Comstock 
silver  vein. 

The  huge  hoisting  works  erected  over  the  mining  shafts  (from  2,000  to  over  3,000  feet  in  depth)  are 
seen  strung  along  through  the  two  towns  for  a  distance  of  over  two  miles,  their  great  size  and  their  tall 
iron  smoke-stacks  making  them  prominent  objects.  The  immense  "dumps"  of  waste  rock  seen  below  all 
these  hoisting  works  tell  of  the  vastness  of  the  underground  workings,  and  at  once  arrest  the  attention  of 
all  visitors.  There  are  at  present  in  the  city  few  mills  for  working  the  ores  mined,  ?nost  of  the  reduction 
works  now  being  on  the  Carson  River,  where  is  almost  unlimited  water  power;  though  the  Nevada  mill, 


in  the  city,  is  run  in  part  by  a  Pelton  water  wheel  (water  being  taken  from  the  city  works)  and  in  part  by 
electricity.  The  electrical  current  which  drives  the  water  in  the  mill,  is  furnished  by  six  Brush  dynamos, 
situated  in  a  great  subterranean  chamber  at  the  level  of  the  Sutro  Tunnel,  1,630  feet  below  the  surface. 
Each  dynamo  is  driven  by  a  small  Pelton  water  wheel,  under  a  verticle  pressure  of  over  1,600  feet. 

The  towns  of  the  Comstock  are  connected  with  the  Central  Pacific,  and  the  world's  great  highways 
of  traffic  by  the  Virginia  &  Truckee  Railroad.  This  road  transports  ores  to  the  river  mills  and  brings 
back  to  the  mines  supplies  of  wood,  lumber  and  mining  timbers  from  the  pine  forests  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  Mountains. 

At  one  time— in  the  "bonanza"  days — there  was  claimed  for  Virginia  City  a  population,  transient  and 
permanent  of  20,000  souls,  and  for  the  sister  town  of  Gold  Hill  of  10,000.  Now  by  the  census  of  1890, 
Virginia  City  has  a  population  of  no  more  than  6,337  and  Gold  Hill  1,072. 

Virginia  City  has  fine  water  works,  (water  being  piped  from  the  Sierras,  near  Lake  Tahoe,  thirty 
miles  away)  also  has  both  electrical  and  gas  lights,  with  all  other  modern  conveniences  now  considered  to 
be  the  necessary  adjxmcts  of  the  civilization  of  the  age.  There  are  several  fine  churches;  school-houses 
that  cost  from  $20,000  to  $60,000;  hospitals  and  asylums;  a  fine  theatre,  and  numerous  large  public  halls. 

Virginia  being  "a  city  set  on  a  hill,"  (and  a  very  high  hill)  offers  grand  views  over  the  interior 
mountain  ranges  and  valleys  in  all  directions,  but  to  the  westward,  where  Mount  Davidson  rises  above 
the  town  to  a  height  of  near  2,000  feet.  Both  Virginia  City  and  Gold  Hill  stand  upon  ground  that  has 
been  excavated  to  the  depth  of  from  1,500  to  3,000  feet,  forming  catacombs  surpassing  by  far,  in  extent, 
those  of  Rome,  and  containing  more  pine  timber  than  all  the  buildings  in  the  largest  city  on  the  Paclic  const. 

A  great  work  is  the  Sutro  drain  tunnel  which,  starting  at  the  Carson  River,  has  a  length  of  nearly 
four  miles.  It  taps  the  lode  at  a  depth  of  1,600  feet  and  drains  all  the  mines  of  both  towns.  Its  con- 
struction lasted  eight  years  and  cost  about  §4,500,000,  being  $2,000,000  more  than  the  cost  of  the  great 
works  of  the  Virginia  City  and  Gold  Hill  Water  Company. 

The  mines  of  the  Comstock  lode,  from  the  discovery  of  silver  to  the  present  time,  have  yielded 
between  $350,000,000  and  $400,000,000;  of  this,  two-thirds  'was  silver  and  one-third  gold.  The  California 
and  Consolidated  Virginia  mines  alone  (in  which  lay  the  immense  bodv  of  rich  ore,  known  as  the  "Big 
Bonanza" )  have  yielded  about  $120,000,000  and  have  paid  about  $80,000,000  in  dividends. 

The  mines  are  still  worked  to  a  good  profit,  though  most  of  the  ore  is  at  present  of  a  low  grade, 
and  each  month  there  are  paid  out  to  employees  from  $180,000  to  $200,000  as  wages.  Miners  are  paid 
$4.00  a  day  for  eight  hours'  work. 

There  are  on  the  Comstock  lode  many  large  areas  of  virgin  ground  still  to  be  explored,  and  great  nnd 
rich  bonanzas  may  yet  be  found.  The  "  Big  Bonanza, '"  the  greatest  ever  found  in  the  United  States,  was 
hit  upon  at  a  time  when  all  on  the  Comstock  was  at  a  low  ebb,  and  when  many  were  deserting  t  he  two 
towns  utterly  discouraged. 


VIRGINIA  CITY,  FROM  CEDAR  HILL 


TOP   OF   MT.    DAVIDSON. 
VIRGINIA   CITY    FROM   TOP  OF   MT.    DAVIDSON.  VIRGINIA   CITY   AND   MT.    DAVIDSON. 


C.  &  C.  PAN  MILL,  SHOWING  VIRGINIA  CITY  AND  MT.  DAVIDSON. 


UTAH. 
SIERRA    NEVADA. 


COMBINED   VIEW,  SHOWING   OEIOER   GRADE. 

HOISTING  WORKS  OVER  MINES. 


UNION. 
CONSOLIDATED  VIRGINIA. 


GOULD  &  CURRY. 


HALF.  &  NOKCROSS. 

HOISTING  WORKS. 


SAVARE. 

CHOI.l.AR, 


V 


C.    &    C.    1I0ISTINC,   WORKS, 
C.    &    C.    WIRE    ROPE    ROOM. 


C.    &  C.    WASTE   DUMPS. 
INTERIOR   C.    &   C.    PAN   MUX. 


NEVADA  MILL,  RUN  BY  ELECTRICITY. 


V 


DYNAMO  ROOM  1630  FEET  UNDER  Mli.l.,  PHOTO  MADE  BY  ELECTRIC  f.IGUT. 
PAN    ROOM. 

ROOMS  OF  NEVADA  MILL 


STAMP  ROOM". 
MOTOR    ROOM. 


UNION  PUMP  ENGINE. 
BURLEIGH  DRILLS  AT  WORK,  MADE  BY  FLASH-LIGHT. 


CHAMBER  IN'  C.  &  C.  AT  THE  1650  FOOT  LEVEL,  BY  FLASH-LIGHT. 
INTERIOR  UNION  WORKS-DRAFT  WHEEL  WHEIGIIING  I  IO  TONS. 


JACKF.T. 

ALI'lf. 

CROWN    POIN'l 

BKLCHER. 

HOISTING  WORKS  AT  COLD  HILL. 

KENTUCK. 

V 


AI.TA   MINE   AND   MILL, 
FULTON   FOUNDRY. 


WOODVII.LE   MINE   AND   MUX. 
DEVIL'S  GATE. 


SUTRO   TUNNEL.  SUTRO  TUNNEL  AND  MULK  TRAIN*. 

ADOLI'H   SUTRO,    FOUNDER   OF  THE  SUTRO  TUNNEL. 
SUTRO   FROM   THE  TUNNEL.  SUTRO   MANSION   AND   MACHINE  SHOP. 


( 


V 


Till-'.    C.    C.    STEVENSON. 
THE  EUKEKA. 


THE   BRUNSWICK. 
THE   VIVIAN. 
CARSON  RIVER  MILLS. 


THE   MEXICAN. 
THE   MORGAN. 


(  v 


V 


COM)    llll. I.   SCHOOL. 


COURT    HOUSE. 
SAVAliK    OFFICE. 


FOURTH   WARD  SCHOot. 


VIRGINIA    &    TRUCKKE  ORE  TRAIN. 
CROWN  POINT  TRESTLE,   84   PEBT   HIGH. 


VIRGINIA    &   TRUCKEE   R.    R.    EXPRESS   ANl)   DEPOT. 
EARLY  DAY  SCENE  IN  GOLD  CANYON  WHEN  GOLD  WAS  FIRST  DISCOVERED  IN  NEVADA  IN  1850. 


I 


V 


IOWA    RAVINE, 


SUGAR    I.OAK   MOUNTAIN,    SIX   MII.F.   CANYON. 

sisters'  hospital; 


TAN    Mil. I.,    SIX    MII.F.  CANYON. 


ot'IHR    MINE.  THREE  BICKELt.  BROTHERS  WHO  i.OST  THEIR  LIVES 

IN    THE  EIRE  IN  GOLD  HILL  MINE,  APRIL  7th,  1869. 


MINERS  OF  THE  COMSTOCK,  AS  THEY  WORK  UNDER  GROUND 


COULD  &  CURRY  MINE. 
CHOI.I.AR    MINE. 


PIUTES  OF  NEVADA. 


w 


►J 

w 

H 
O 


o 

< 

W 
H 
Z 


if 


■■i 


mm 


iflli 

If 


I 


11 


I 


»»>v 


1 


■ 


11 


:««! 
1 


!& 


:<< 


1 


